Troops given 'inadequate' training before deadly operation in Afghanistan

Training of troops involved in an operation which led to the death of the
first female British soldier in Afghanistan was ''inadequate'', a coroner
said.

Corporal Sarah Bryant, 26, was killed with special forces reservists Corporal Sean Robert Reeve, 28, Lance Corporal Richard Larkin, 39, and Private Paul Stout, 31, when their Snatch Land Rover was hit by a roadside bomb in June 2008.

The six-day inquest into the deaths, held at Trowbridge Town Hall in Wiltshire, heard a string of criticisms of their equipment and training.

And today Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner David Masters said there was an ''inadequacy'' in training given to the soldiers.

The coroner had heard evidence that soldiers had not been shown how to use metal detectors in the UK due to an equipment shortage.

Troops were forced to hunt out an expert on base in Afghanistan who passed on his knowledge.

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An Ebex metal detector became available only four months into the deployment, until which point the soldiers had to scan the ground for improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Summing up on Tuesday, Mr Masters also highlighted the limitations of Snatch Land Rovers.

The inquest had heard that the commander of the four soldiers had requested a replacement for their Snatch Land Rover but was refused due to equipment shortages.

The vehicles could not cover soft ground and became stuck in a little water, which restricted the unit to driving along dangerous tracks.

Mr Masters said: "We heard about, in comparison their disadvantages, that they had limited manoeuvrability being heavy in soft ground and rural areas, that they were top heavy and unstable in so far as top cover sentry was concerned, that they were relatively light armoured."

He added: "There was limited visibility. These concerns were raised by the commanding officer Colonel A."

He said Colonel A, who was not named for security reasons, requested a WMIK vehicle to replace the Snatch.

"There was a limited pool of vehicles available, a general shortage of vehicles available during that period," said Mr Masters. "He wanted WMIKs because of the nature of the territory. He put in a request and justified it but he didn't get them. That shortage meant that they were unavailable to him.

"There was only a finite supply of vehicles to be allocated across the whole brigade."

A WMIK would have suffered the same level of "devastation" in the blast, he told Wiltshire Coroner's Court, sitting at Trowbridge Town Hall.

The widespread use of Snatch Land Rovers by frontline troops has provoked criticism.

Gordon Brown was forced to defend the use of the vehicles last week when he gave evidence to the Iraq inquiry.

He said "once these new vehicles were asked for, they were offered and the money was paid, I think within months."

And officials travelling with Mr Brown during a visit to Afghanistan this weekend said an announcement about 200 new armoured vehicles to replace the Snatch Land Rovers was expected within weeks.

But the Conservatives pointed out the original contract notice was for "up to 400" vehicles and accused the Government of cutting the number it was acquiring by half.

The unit only had one Ebex which meant they had to check one side of the Land Rover and then the other, which delayed their progress and left them vulnerable to attack.

Mr Masters said: "There was a theatre-wide shortage of that piece of vital equipment."

Soldiers said they had only received a 20-minute briefing on using the metal detector, with Staff Sergeant O complaining "he didn't feel he had sufficiently trained on Ebex", the coroner said.

Another, identified as Corporal J, said he was given a 10 to 15 minute demonstration on using the piece of equipment but had to learn how to use it himself.

He told the inquest: "We worked it out ourselves with the use of the manual."

The coroner added: "He did not believe he had had enough training on it. He wanted further training and had been refused."

Issues that had not been covered in their briefings included the distance above the ground the Ebex had to be held in order to be effective, Mr Masters said.

Others complained they had not been taught how far below the ground metal could be detected.